The Northside (Taobh Ó Thuaidh in Irish) is the area in County Dublin, Ireland bounded to the south by the River Liffey to the east by Dublin Bay, to the north and west by the boundaries of County Dublin.

Introduction

The Northside is not an official administrative area but rather a colloquial geographical expression. The Northside is traditionally viewed as being more working-class in character than its counterpart across the river, the Southside, and there is something of a rivalry between the two. This was not always the case - for much of the 18th century the wealthiest part of the city was to be found around Parnell Square and Bolton Street.

Several of the books written by the Booker Prize winning author Roddy Doyle, are set in the fictional Northside area of Barrytown, (which is believed to be a thinly disguised Kilbarrack, where he worked as a school teacher). Popular RTÉ television soap opera, Fair City, is set in the fictional northside suburb of Carrickstown.

Areas of the Northside

The Northside includes Dublin city centre north of the Liffey, of whose many streets some are noted below, and districts such as Smithfield and Summerhill. Some older districts, such as Oxmantown, no longer exist. Beyond the centre, areas of the Northside include the below, most of the names being of long heritage (at least two names were invented in the 1960s), though until recently many were rural townlands. Some are independent suburbs or villages, others are parts of larger areas:

• Finglas
• Glasnevin
• Grangegorman
• Harmonstown
• Howth
• Kilbarrack
• Killester
• Kinsealy
• Malahide
• Marino
• Mulhuddart
• North Wall
• North Strand
• Phibsboro
• Portmarnock
• Priorswood
• Raheny
• Santry
• Sheriff Street
• Stoneybatter
• Sutton
• Summerhill
• Swords
• Whitehall.

The 'area' is administered both by Dublin City Council (formerly Dublin Corporation) and Fingal County Council, responsible for 84% and 16% of the land area which lies inside the M50 motorway and north of the river Liffey respectively (excluding the Howth peninsula). The Fingal/Dublin city boundary, when drawn up in 1985, was viewed as the edge of all Northside development from Dublin City at that time. Of course this boundary has moved significantly with the housing boom of the 1990s with large tracts of formerly rural land being swallowed up by the city in areas such as Balgriffin, north of Coolock, Donaghmede and Baldoyle, and Ashtown, beyond Finglas. Also, the Swords area (disconnected from the city limits by the green belt and aviation safety zone around Dublin Airport) would be considered to be a Northside area because the majority of residents would be of a working-class Northside background i.e. from areas such as Coolock or Ballymun, yet neighbouring Malahide, although closer to the city than Swords, might be thought of as more a County Dublin "seaside town", owing to its more middle-class population.

Postcodes

In general, Dublin postal districts on the Northside are odd, while Southside codes are even. One exception is the Phoenix Park, which is on the Northside but has an even postal code (Dublin 8). Anecdotally this is sometimes said to be because the park is home to the official residence of the President of Ireland, and it was thought unsuitable for the President to live on the unfashionable Northside when the numbering system was being introduced. However the real reason behind this is explained by eminent Dublin historian Pat Liddy: "There is a very simple, practical reason why the Phoenix Park is in Dublin 8 and it has nothing whatever to do with snobbery but with practicality. Long before there were postal codes the James's St Postal Sorting Office looked after the Phoenix Park because it was considered to be closer and more convenient than Phibsborough (Dublin 7). James's St continued in this role when the postal codes were introduced so Dublin 8 it had to be."

Landmarks

Famous places on the Northside include

• St. Doulagh's Church
• Morton Stadium
• Dalymount Park
• Tolka Park
• Phoenix Park
• Dublin Zoo
• Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery
• Dublin Writers Museum
• National Transport Museum of Ireland
• Croke Park
• Dublin City University
• The Helix
• Glasnevin Cemetery
• National Aquatic Centre
• King's Inns
• Law Society of Ireland
• Mater Hospital
• Beaumont Hospital
• National Museum of Ireland
• Rotunda Hospital
• Old Jameson Whiskey Distillery
• National Wax Museum
• James Joyce Centre
• Smithfield
• National Botanic Gardens
• Casino at Marino
• Castleknock Castle
• Howth Castle
• Clontarf Castle
• Swords Castle
• Malahide Castle and regional park

Major transport hubs include Connolly Station, Busáras (the national central bus station) and Dublin Airport.

Many state bodies such as the national meteorological office, Met Éireann, the Central Fisheries Board, the national enterprise and trade board, Enterprise Ireland, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, Sustainable Energy Ireland, the Department of Education, the Department of the Environment, the National Food Centre, the Irish Marine Institute in Corduff and the Department of Defence are based on the Northside.

The main shopping area in the north inner city, and busiest shopping street in Ireland, is Henry Street/Mary Street, just off O'Connell street. Four of the six city centre shopping centres are located on the Northside, these are the Jervis Centre, the Ilac Shopping Centre, Irish Life Shopping Mall and the Moore Street Mall, along with the large out-of-town centre at Blanchardstown and others at Swords, Coolock and Donaghmede.

The Cineworld (UGC) cinema on Parnell Street is the largest cinema in Ireland with seventeen screens, the other notable north inner city cinema, the Savoy, is located on O'Connell Street and is one of Ireland's oldest cinemas.

Dublin City University, Dublin's newest university, is located between Glasnevin, Whitehall and Ballymun.

Other usages

Northside is also the name of a shopping centre in Coolock, Ireland's first covered shopping centre, with a municipal swimming pool on the roof.

Famous Northsiders

Bram Stoker, author of Dracula, lived in the Fairview / Marino area on The Crescent, a curved terrace of houses reminiscent of the Royal Crescent in Bath. Legend has it that the terrace was built where it is deliberately to block the seaviews of the builder's rival, a rich landowner, from his estate (which included the Casino) at Marino. The house is close to the Westwood Club, home of the Bram Stoker Cultural Heritage Visitor centre

Two Taoisigh, Bertie Ahern and the late Charles Haughey, are from the Northside - Ahern from Drumcondra and Haughey from Donnycarney. Perhaps the most famous Northsiders are the members of the rock group U2, which formed at Mount Temple Comprehensive School. Actor Colin Farrell is from Castleknock.

Comedian Brendan O Carroll is from the Finglas area.

References